Honyere Tehawenkarogwen: Head Warrior of Oriska (Reprinted from August/September 1994 Oneida Indian Nation Newsletter)
The greatest Oneida hero of the Revolutionary War is considered to be Honyere Tehawenkarogwen (He Who Takes Up The Snowshoe), head warrior of the Wolf Clan in the village of Oriska. He is remembered as a gentleman and fearless leader around the time of the Revolutionary War.
Early in the war, Honyere organized a military unit composed of Oneidas in Oriska. As the Tryon County Militia passed near the settlement on its way to life the British siege of Fort Stanwix on August 6, 1777, the Oneida troop numbering about 60 joined the American column marching toward an ambush prepared by Loyalists and fellow Iroquois led by Joseph Brant, a Mohawk.
Dining with American General Philip Schuyler in Albany on September 19, 1777 Honyere was asked to leave immediately to aid the army of Horatio Gates opposing a British invasion advancing toward the New York capital. Within a week, according to Schuyler, the Oneidas, led by Honyere and others, had "already taken about 30 prisoners, and intercepted some dispatches from General Burgoyne to General Powel, commanding at Ticonderoga."
The Oneidas were reluctant to undertake further American service without protection for their settlements. The young French aristocrat Lafayette arranged to have fortifications built at present day Oneida Castle, then advanced money enabling Oneida soldiers to join the Continental Army. Accordingly, 50 Oneidas (probably including Honyere) arrived at Valley Forge in mid-May, 1778, and almost immediately participated in the action called Barren Hill under Lafayette's command. The only hostile engagement of this curious battle occurred when the Oneidas confronted a mounted British company (dragoons). A newspaper of the time reported that following an Oneida volley of shot and war whoops, "the horses of the British cavalry were terrified at the unusual sound, and scampered off in such hot haste as to lose many of the cloaks of their riders, which became the prize of the Indians, and were speedily converted into leggings."
After these fraudulent transactions, when the actual loss of lands became apparent, Oneida leaders spoke out, "These poor people of Oriska found with you," pleaded the Oneida sachem Good Peter. "We submit it to you whether it would not be reasonable to take some care of them and let them possess that small spot of land at Oriska." New York officials were unmoved.
Honyere would participate in no more of the land cessions. His sister-in-law testified many years later that "Captain Honyere Tehawenkarogwen" died in 1839. However, Honyere's disappearance from the documentary record after 1790 and the ages of his children participating in important events during the war suggest that he died in 1793.
-- Ray Halbritter, Nation Representative/Enterprises C.E.O. (EDITOR'S NOTE: The facts and accounts in this article were extracted from a number of historical and reference publications. A complete list of these reference books can be obtained from the Nation.)
12/2/94
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